Month April 2014
On Sunday we had more time, so me and Kevin drove out of the city to the northwest. We headed to the historical site Newgrange, but when we got there, we found out we had to buy tickets at a completely different place. So, we drove around quite a long distance (the lack of roads stopped us from taking a shortcut), and finally managed to get some tickets.
The site itself is a big stone age tomb. From a distance it looks like a big grassy knoll that kind pops out of the landscape because it is a bit too … Read the rest
I am currently on a business trip to Ireland. Since it is weekend I had some time off from work. Me and my colleague Kevin used this opportunity to take our rental car and go out explore Ireland.
I actually had to do a little bit of work on Saturday morning, so there was not really enough time to leave the city. Instead we drove to down town Dublin, parked the car near Trinity College and spent the afternoon walking around the city center.
We started with the college itself, and the very impressive library. The main room is long, … Read the rest
We are in the central chamber of a stone age tomb, a vault of crudely cut megalith blocks above us and outside that, a great mound of earth covered in grass. The guide turns off the tourist friendly electric lights and the chamber goes completely dark except for some dim light spilling in through the passageway. She turns on the light simulating the equinox sun and a golden ray shoots along the floor, filling the passage with brilliant golden light and grows in luminescence until it culminates in a thin point on a spot precisely calculated by ancient astronomers. Though … Read the rest
This weekend we are visiting Yini’s parents. Normally that means staying in their house and playing with her nephews but this time Yini and I decided to go on a small outing instead.
We started by driving to Beigang and had a late lunch nearby the kind of famous Mazu temple there. After lunch we took a stroll through the temple area and the market there. There was a big pedestrian bridge spanning the nearby river and two huge temple guard statues at the bridgehead, which was pretty impressive, but nothing overwhelming.
The bridge 
Yini taking a rest under part
It’s been a while since I’ve written anything because it’s been too cold and wet to really go anywhere. Last weekend however, it was nice and sunny so Yini and I took the opportunity to go out with the motorcycle. We rode east out of the city, passed through the little town of queerly painted houses that we visited last year, and on to the Five Fingers Mountains.
At a small temple we found an fairly steep little walking trail that we followed. It was a bit of a struggle for Yini and I got pretty tired as well but … Read the rest